Much has changed in Germany since the days of Deutschland AG, when Banks and big firms had complex cross-holdings that prevented hostile takeovers.

Most experts agree a forensic tracing of Iceland's tangled money trail, complicated by multiple cross-holdings and share-backed lending, is likely to turn in on itself.

You could easily imagine a system, like Japan in the 1980s, of corporate cross-holdings in which managers protect each other from the investing barbarians outside the gates.